Tell me this can be sorted out?

Lara44

Yes that's the only way I can really afford London on my wage - I share with my b/f. I pay £200 and he £300 per month which rents us half of a really nice 2 bed house in Bow - it's the nicest place I've lived and the least I have ever paid for rent.

My b/f was super diligent in finding the place, as houses usually go for more like £2000 per month in this area but the hard work paid off. You'll be in a much better position when you're able to do this.

I'm sure there's some mileage in talking to your bank and creditors to allow some extra time... have you converted your account back to student status? That should possibly give you more flexibility.

I used Martin's budget planner to work backwards from my income to determine what I needed to be paying for rent and bills etc, and then moved pots of money around until it all added up. Now I do all the MSE tricks to make extra cash and minimise expenditure. You can do it to, don't despair

lynzpower

crikey lara, youve done well for Bow, thats where I am!!
Great round here innit You havce got a bargain there, dont suppose your moving out are you

lil'H

you mention the rent and bills are one price? Can you seperate out the costs, see if you can get the bills element down? I'm sure your flat mate would have no complaint if you managed to reduce them for the both of you! Post up on here what they are and see what people suggest. Oh and I definately agree on the rent element, it's quick and easy to get round London, and moving just slightly out could save you a fortune.

Lil'H

Lil'H

Triker

Hi just wanted to add you could list your stuff on ebay for a 1 day or a 3 day listing, that way you shouldn't have to wait a week for it to end, good luck.

Lara44

lynzpower wrote:

crikey lara, youve done well for Bow, thats where I am!!
Great round here innit You havce got a bargain there, dont suppose your moving out are you

I know, the estate agents (theres about 40 on Roman Road alone) laughed b/f out of the office when he told them his budget but he just kept chipping away at it, which is the secret I think. Not moving just yet - on our wages I think we'll be living here until we're 50, lol!

Its such a cool area, two minutes from Victoria Park with loads of nice pubs especially the Palm Tree. I wouldn't move anywhere else in London for the world.

Come and live with me and Lynz in Bow, Jo!

cocalls

hello there

Rent - £605pm (£1200 between us inc. bills)
So does that inc council tax, water, gas/leccy, tv. if so thats amazing as i'm paying that nearly much per month for my tiny two bed place in York which is certainly not the centre of London! Just wanted to ask you mention mobile but do you have no internet/phoneline or sky? (no insurance?) Also is the 1200 what you pay to the landlord or what you pay into the joint account ie are you two paying the bills if so can they be reduced? Also why are you paying an extra 5 quid/month than your flat mate? Apologies so many questions!

cocalls

Sorry make that an extra 10 quid than your flatmate (im going to start training to be a primary teacher on mon i think i need to brush up on my maths!)

james32_uk

Tell your gym you're moving away and so are forced to cancel your contract subscription. This has worked for other people on here.

jo5ephedward5

Hello people!

OK OK the light bulb has hit the full 100 watts this weekend – I sat down and went through everything and spoke to my Girl Friend.

I have handed in my notice with my landlord, the contract has a get out clause so long as I give 2 months notice plus any remaining day of the month that notice is given – so I take that as I’ll be moving on the 2ed of December. My GF has said I can crash at hers until Christmas as her flat mates are going home anyway and flat will be empty – this should give me time to get my Deposit back off my current landlord – have had a look and yesh you’re all right I can live around £200 a month cheaper – and a 6 month contract will tie in nicely with a June move date to live with my GF next year, - sorry for being so stubborn…just have to let my flat mate know now, he’ll be gutted!

This weekend I have also lowered my mobile tariff to £20 a month, this should be fine so long as I don’t use it in the day! – 3mins at nite = 1 hour so as long as I only use after 7pm I should get more use out of it!

I have also started renting my car to my dad as now I live in London I don’t use it, my dad was going to buy the same car so I ‘rent’ it to him at the cost of my finance – thus giving me an extra £155 a month, if I couple this with the potential £200 saved from rent, then I could be well on my way – not over yet, It salary reviews this month at work so I’m holding off a DMP until then as I may not need one and I’d hate to enter one for the sake of it…give me 2 weeks and I’ll know what I have to do! – THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOU HELP!

I have tried to answer your questions below – any comments gratefully received!

I'm sure there's some mileage in talking to your bank and creditors to allow some extra time... have you converted your account back to student status? That should possibly give you more flexibility.

Can’t convert my account to student status as I’m part time – last year when I said I’m going part time they cancelled my overdrafts, and credit cards and turned them into a managed loan at 17.9% apr – needless to say its not very helpful!

you mention the rent and bills are one price? Can you seperate out the costs, see if you can get the bills element down? I'm sure your flat mate would have no complaint if you managed to reduce them for the both of you! Post up on here what they are and see what people suggest. Oh and I definately agree on the rent element, it's quick and easy to get round London, and moving just slightly out could save you a fortune.

Bills are included in our rent so I don’t know what they are…maybe our Landlord is making a mark up on these, he doesn’t seem the type but he never is

Hi just wanted to add you could list your stuff on eBay for a 1 day or a 3 day listing, that way you shouldn't have to wait a week for it to end, good luck.

Genius – forgot you could even do that – its on now as a 3 day listing…except my Laptop…not sure if I trust it on eBay as worth over £500 which is most peoples PayPal limit…what are the alternatives payment options for higher value stuff?

Also why are you paying an extra 5 quid/month than your flat mate? Apologies so many questions!

I don’t lol – he pays £10 a week more than me actually our rent is more than I thought! We pay £645ish – he pays more as his room is 3 times the size of mine!

Tell your gym you're moving away and so are forced to cancel your contract subscription. This has worked for other people on here.

I tried this at the weekend but they are having none of it! Said I can either cancel and pay in full, or carry on paying and not use it!

Lara44

Hi Jo

WELL DONE! You have done some amazing work there! Fantastic that you might not have to enter a DMP Best of luck with the job pay rise...

I can't go back to a student account either as I'm part time. It's such a pain, you almost need the help more when you're studying part time.

Any computers etc I have always bought and sold on Loot, so that might be worth checking out. At least you get to meet the people, which always reassured me a lot.

That's really harsh about the gym I think. Is it worth writing a complaint letter to the head office that it's pretty immoral not to let people cancel their gym contracts if they're in serious financial trouble? At least they'll know how unhappy you are.

If you have to move a bit further out you can always get a bike to cycle to work for free.

So you've potentially saved around £400 per month as well as a bit of rent at your g/fs and you'll have a big cash injection from ebaying. Well done I bet you feel a lot better now you've got some control over things....

Lara